Daily Archives: February 4, 2014

U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul Blogs Farewell (Updated)

February 4, 2014 By in Ambassadors, DCM, Digital Diplomacy, Foreign Service, Govt Documents, Leadership and Management, Obama, Political Appointees, Resignations, Social Media, Technology and Work, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , ,

— Domani Spero

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael A. McFaul announced on his blog that he is stepping down from his position in Moscow after the Olympic Winter Games. He will soon rejoin his family in California at the end of the month.  He writes that “after more than five years working in the Obama administration, it is time to go home.”  Ambassador McFaul’s wife and two sons moved back to California last summer.   His lengthy blog post details his accomplishments during his two-year tenure as chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Quick excerpt below:

I also am proud of some of the diplomatic innovations that our embassy has initiated during my time in Russia, especially regarding public diplomacy. Before I came to Moscow as ambassador, I had never seen a tweet. Yet, I now interact everyday with 60,000 followers on Twitter and more than 13,000 “friends” on Facebook, and our Tweetchats can reach hundreds of thousands in a matter of minutes. I also engaged with Russian audiences on many of your television and radio programs and in print media, believing that even though we will not always agree on every issue, we must at least try to understand each other’s point of view. Conducting lengthy interviews in my flawed Russian on TV Dozhd, Ekho Moskvy, or Vecherniy Urgant was not easy. Yet, I always felt it was best to show my respect for Russia by speaking in your language. Live interviews also tend to be more direct and open, features I tried to bring to my diplomacy every day.  I also enjoyed giving lectures in Russian to thousands of university students, complete with slides (that also may be a diplomatic first here!). And some of my most memorable public interactions were at standing-room-only sessions at American Corners in Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, Volgograd, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. Thousands of Russians showed up to engage with me on everything from Syria to my broken finger. These were not gatherings of just officials or elites, but a real cross-section of Russian society. The only qualification for attending these meetings was a curiosity about America.  I truly loved the spirit of these gatherings. They made me very optimistic about the future of cooperation between our two societies.
[…]
I also am very pleased with how well our mission performed in the comprehensive assessment of our activities conducted by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) during my tenure in Russia, a review that occurs at embassies around the world every five years.  There is no greater honor than to be judged positively on your professionalism as diplomats by some of the most experienced diplomats we have in the State Department.  Every day that I walk into the embassy, I feel so lucky to be part of such an excellent team of Americans and Russians. Perhaps more than anything else, I will miss my colleagues at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Read the full blog post here. For another view on his tenure, see Foreign Policy’s No More Mr. Nice Guy (FP, Feb 5, 2014).

Photo via U.S. Embassy Moscow/McFaul blog

Photo via U.S. Embassy Moscow/Ambassador McFaul’s blog

Sheila Gwaltney, the embassy’s deputy chief of mission at U.S. Embassy Moscow since 2011 will presumably take charge of the embassy pending the confirmation and arrival of the next ambassador who is yet to be announced. Mission Russia has a standard 2-year tour of duty but hopefully, this was planned ahead so the embassy’s top two officials are not leaving around the same time.  will  reportedly leave this summer. She will be replaced by SCA Deputy Assistant Secretary Lynne Tracy.  We’re now hearing that the ambassdor will depart shortly after the Olympics –so anytime in late February to mid March (if he leaves after the paralympics).

State/OIG’s 2013 inspection report on U.S. Embassy Moscow and constituent posts in Russia is available here. Among its key judgments, “Embassy Moscow is effectively advancing a broad policy agenda important to the highest levels of the U.S. Government. The interagency team, under the leadership of the Ambassador and deputy chief of mission, is strong and cohesive.”  The OIG report also praised Ambassador McFaul as an “impressive communicator—informal but substantive, with good humor and a human touch. He has also maintained a high public profile including extensive use of social media, as access to traditional media has become more difficult and less useful.”

The report notes that across Mission Russia (includes consulates general in St. Petersburg,Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok and a consular agency in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), employees face “intensified pressure by the Russian security services at a level not seen since the days of the Cold War.”

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Related item:
-09/30/13   Inspection of Embassy Moscow and Constituent Posts, Russia (ISP-I-13-48A)  [940 Kb]  Posted on November 13, 2013

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Today at the SFRC: Crocker (IO), Lawson (ICAO), Wood (USCD)

February 4, 2014 By in Congress, FSOs, Hearings, Nominations, Obama, Officially In, Political Appointees, SFRC, State Department, U.S. Missions, UN, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

— Domani Spero

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its confirmation hearings for President Obama’s nominees for  the International Organization Affairs , International Civil Aviation Organization and the Conference on Disarmament .

Presiding: Senator Markey
Date: Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Time: 03:00 PM
Location: Senate Dirksen 419

Webcast:

This hearing is scheduled to be live webcast. Please return to this page to view the hearing live or see the nominees’ prepared statements.

Nominees:

  • Ms. Bathsheba Nell Crocker
    of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs

Bathsheba N. Crocker is the Principal Deputy Director in the Office of Policy Planning at the Department of State (DOS), a position she has held since 2011.  Previously at DOS, she served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State from 2009 to 2011.  From 2008 to 2009, Ms. Crocker was a Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer for International Affairs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  She was the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support at the UN Peacebuilding Support Office from 2007 to 2008.  From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Crocker was the Deputy Chief of Staff to the UN Special Envoy at the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.  Ms. Crocker worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project as a Fellow and Co-Director from 2003 to 2005 and as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 2002 to 2003.  Ms. Crocker was an Attorney-Adviser for the Office of the Legal Advisor at DOS from 2001 to 2002 and from 1997 to 1999.  From 2000 to 2001, she was Deputy U.S. Special Representative for Southeast Europe Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy.  From 1999 to 2000, Ms. Crocker was Executive Assistant to the Deputy National Security Advisor for the National Security Council at the White House.  She has served as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and American University.  Ms. Crocker received a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. (Via)

  • Mr. Michael Anderson Lawson 
    of California, for the rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization

Michael Anderson Lawson is the immediate past President of the Los Angeles World Airports’ Board of Airport Commissioners.  He has been a member of the Board of Airport Commissioners since 2005 and held the position of President of the Commission since 2011.  From 1980 to 2011, he practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP where he served as partner since 1995.  From 1978 to 1980, he was a staff attorney at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.  Mr. Lawson is a member of the Board of Trustees of Morehouse College, Loyola Marymount University, The Advancement Project, the Music Center at the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County, the California State Teachers Retirement System Board, and the Community Redevelopment Agency Oversight Board for the City of Los Angeles.  Mr. Lawson received a B.A. from Loyola University in Los Angeles and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. (Via)

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